On June 24, Bloomberg reported that an AI startup that uses Anthropic’s large models sued the U.S. government because the U.S. government ordered Anthropic not to provide its most advanced models to foreign citizens.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington. Less than two weeks ago, Anthropic shut down access to its most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, to comply with export controls imposed by the Trump administration.

The plaintiff, Legion, a litigation technology company that provides tools for lawyers, is headquartered in the United States, but the company said that its software development team includes Canadian employees working in Canada.

Legion said in its complaint that Anthropic's cutting off access to the Fable 5 model was particularly hard on the company because it meant it "instantly lost the latest tools on which its core development efforts depend." Legion called the damage to the company "immediate, irreparable and existential," noting that AI is evolving so quickly and competition is fierce that any advantage lost while the model is unavailable is irreversible.

"Every day this order remains in effect will disrupt Legion's product development and daily operations, prevent the company's engineers from performing their jobs normally, and undermine the company's ability to survive in an industry that is highly dependent on continued access to the most advanced models." Legion said.

Defendants in the case include U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick. He had warned in a letter to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that the company would need to obtain government permission before exporting its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models outside the United States or providing access to foreign citizens in any location.

An Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement that the company "appreciates the government's" efforts to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. "We remain committed to working with the administration to achieve our goals of protecting critical infrastructure and ensuring the United States remains a leader in AI," the statement said.

As of press time, the White House, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Legion have not responded to requests for comment.